NICT-Led Team Cuts NTN Antenna Weight by Nearly Half
A consortium led by Japan’s National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) has developed a new lightweight heat dissipation design that reduces the weight of an NTN planar antenna by 47%, a development that could help accelerate satellite connectivity for drones, vehicles and other mobile platforms.
Working with Sharp, Mitsubishi Chemical and TECHLAB, the team replaced conventional aluminium thermal management components with a new composite structure combining carbon fibre prepreg and graphite sheet materials. The result reduced the antenna’s weight from 5.5 kg to 2.9 kg while maintaining the electrical performance required for satellite communications.
The lightweight design addresses one of the key challenges facing satellite user terminals. NTN planar antennas require satellite-tracking capabilities that generate significant heat, creating a need for effective thermal management without adding excessive weight. This is particularly important for applications where terminals must be mounted on drones, autonomous vehicles or other mobility platforms with strict payload limitations.
Beyond the antenna itself, the partners integrated the new design into a complete satellite communications terminal and successfully demonstrated operation alongside a modem. According to the consortium, the reduced weight brings the terminal within the payload capacity of widely used industrial drones, significantly expanding potential deployment scenarios.
The development could support a range of NTN use cases, including communications in mountainous regions, disaster recovery operations, remote infrastructure monitoring and future connected mobility applications. Lightweight satellite terminals are also expected to play an important role in extending connectivity beyond the reach of terrestrial networks.